Concrete leveling apparatus

ABSTRACT

A concrete leveler comprises rails that are laid on both sides of a poured concrete surface, a traveling beam that spans the rails and freely travels along them, a traveling unit that is mounted so as to be freely movable along the beam in a direction perpendicular with respect to the direction of travel of that beam, and a concrete leveler portion that is provided to the traveling unit, and wherein this concrete leveling portion has a screw that is axially mounted so as to be freely and rotationally driven between support legs of the traveling unit, and that crosses a direction of travel of the traveling unit.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a concrete leveling apparatus forperforming the work of levelling a poured concrete surface when concretefloor surfaces and the like are being built.

BACKGROUND ART

When concrete floor surfaces and the like are being built, levelling theconcrete to a smooth surface after it has been poured is conventionallyperformed manually by workers using trowels but not only is such manualwork inefficient and involve much time, there are also many otherproblems such as a poor accuracy of leveling, and the difficulty ofobtaining workers to perform it.

Because of this, efforts are being made to bring into practicalapplication machines that automatically run across a poured concretesurface after it has been poured and before it has completely hardenedand perform the leveling of the concrete.

However, such machines have wheels that run across the poured concreteand disturb the levelness of the surface and have another problem inthat the weight of the machine is directly applied to the pouredconcrete surface and causes other problems of bending or otherwisedamaging the steel reinforcement beneath the concrete surface.

DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION

The present invention is configured by a concrete leveler portion thatis supported to a traveling unit that is driven by a screw and that ismounted so as to be freely movable along a traveling beam that travelsalong left and right rails, and that automatically performs the work ofleveling the poured concrete surface without leaving any tracks in it.

In addition to this, the screw is configured by a main screw and anauxiliary screw so that surplus concrete is suitably discharged toportions of the surface that are still to be leveled.

Furthermore, a vibrator plate or a vibrator plate and trowel areprovided to the screw so that leveling tracks caused by the screw areleveled out by the fine vibration.

Still furthermore, the height of the vibrator plate is automaticallyadjusted so that suitable leveling work is performed with respect toboth horizontal or sloped surfaces.

Yet furthermore, the traveling beam has a self-operating structure thatdoes not require the laying of rails.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a frontal elevational view describing a first embodiment ofthe present invention;

FIG. 2 is a side elevational view of a traveling beam;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged frontal elevational view of the leg supportportion shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is an elevational view of a concrete leveler portion;

FIG. 5 is a sectional view along section lines A--A of FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is a view of the configuration of the control system;

FIG. 7 is an enlarged elevational view of the leveler portion shown inFIG. 1;

FIG. 8 is an elevational view showing another embodiment of the trowelplate shown in FIG. 7;

FIG. 9 is a frontal elevational view of the main portions of the otherembodiment;

FIG. 10 and FIG. 11 are views describing the procedure for performingthe leveling work;

FIG. 12 is a frontal elevational view showing one example of themechanism for moving the laser light receiver up and down;,

FIG. 13 is a side elevational view of the mechanism for moving the laserlight receiver up and down;

FIG. 14 is a block diagram of the control system;

FIGS. 15 (A)-(D) are views describing the operation;

FIG. 16 is a frontal elevational view showing another embodiment of thepresent invention;

FIG. 17 is an enlarged sectional view of the leg portion shown in FIG.16 and

FIGS. 18 (A)-(H) are views describing the operation.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

The following is a description of embodiments of the present inventionwith reference to the appended drawings.

The concrete leveling apparatus 1 comprises the traveling beam 2 and theconcrete leveler portion 3 shown in FIG. 1, and the traveling beam 2 isprovided with self-traveling drive portions 4, 4.

As shown in FIG. 1 through FIG. 3, the traveling beam 2 is configuredfrom rails 5, 5 that are laid on both sides of the poured concretesurface C, traveling leg portions 6, 6 that are provided so as tocorrespond to the rails 5, 5, and beam 7 that spans the upper portionbetween these traveling leg portions 6, 6.

The traveling leg portions 6, 6 are each configured from a lowertransverse member 8 provided parallel to the respective rail 5, and legsupports 10, 10 and reinforcing members 11, 11 that are fixed to form atrapezoid shape with an upper transverse member 9 which is slightlyshorter than the lower transverse member 8, and to both ends of thelower transverse member 8 are provided rollers 12, 12 so that thetraveling beam 2 can travel along the rail 5.

The beam 7 is configured from transverse beams 13, 13 that are providedto the top of the upper transverse members 9, 9 of the traveling legportions 6, 6, and form a right-angled rectangle with lower cross beams14, 14 that are provided so as to span between the transverse beams 13,13, and which are also provided with end members 15, 15, 15, 15 thatslope upwards from both end portions of the transverse beams 13, 13 toform triangular shapes. To the respective apexes of these triangularshapes are fixed an upper cross beam 16 that is parallel to the lowercross beams 14, 14, and which is provided with vertical braces 17, 17,17, 17 that fix the upper cross beam 16 and the lower cross beams 14, 14between the end portions 16a, 16a of the upper cross beam 16. Inaddition, a suitable number of diagonal braces 18, 18, 18, . . . arefixed between the end members 15, 15, 15, 15, the lower cross beams 14,14 and between the upper cross beam 16 and the lower cross beams 14, 14,while cross struts 19, 19 are fixed so as to be parallel to thetransverse beams 13, 13, between pairs of end members 15, 15.

The drive portions 4, 4 of the running beam 2 are respectively providedto the upper portion of the lower transverse members 8, 8. Morespecifically, each of the drive portions 4, 4 is configured from apulley 21 that engages with the shaft of a geared motor 20 that ismounted to the upper portion of the lower transverse member 8, and thathas a belt 23 wound around a pulley 22 that engages with a shaft of aroller 12 of the lower transverse member 8.

The concrete leveler portion 3 is configured from traveling members 24,24 that travel using the lower cross beams 14, 14 as the guide rails, ascrew 26 that is illustrated as being in the form of an auger and whichis supported by the traveling members 24, 24 via the raising andlowering jacks 25, 25 that function as the raising and lowering, andlevel adjustment mechanisms, and a vibrating plate 27.

To the traveling members 24, 24 are provided frames 28, 28 that sandwichthe lower cross beams 14, 14 from both sides and perpendicular to theseframes 28, 28 are provided a linkage member 29. Then an upper roller 30and a lower roller 31 are provided as a pair to the frames 28, 28 so asto sandwich the lower cross beams 14, 14 from the top and bottom but twopairs are provided to one side in the interval and one of these pairshas the rotation of the roller drive motor 32 transmitted to it.

To both ends of the linkage members 29 are vertically provided raisingand lowering jacks 25, 25 and to the distal ends of these raising andlowering jacks 25, 25 is coupled the frame 33, while underneath theframe is axially supported the screw 26. One pair of the raising andlowering jacks 25, 25 has the combined function of a height adjustmentand level adjustment mechanism, and height adjustment is performed bysimultaneous operation of both raising and lowering jacks 25, 25, whilelevel adjustment is performed by selectively operating either one of theraising and lowering jacks 25, 25.

The height adjustment mechanism and the level adjustment mechanism canof course be performed using separate mechanisms. Also, the screw 26 hastwo screw blades 35 around the periphery of the screw shaft 34 and iscovered from the front upper portion of the screw 26 to the rear lowerportion by a cover 36. Furthermore, the rotational drive motor 37 of thescrew 26 is mounted to the frame 33 so that the rotational force istransmitted from the motor 37 via the chain 38 to the screw 26. Thechain cover is shown in the figure by the numeral 39.

To the side of the rear of the frame 33 is a vibrator plate 27 which issupported via arms 40, 40. This vibrating plate 27 has a length that isabout the same as the screw 26 and to the central portion of this screw26 is mounted a vibrator 41. The lower surface of the vibrating plate 27is a smooth leveling surface 42 and the leveling surface 42 ispositioned at substantially the same height as the lower end of thescrew 35.

Moreover, to the end portion of the frame 33 is provided a laser lightreceiver 43 that receives the laser light l that is emitted from thelaser light emitter (not shown in the figure) at a planned height, andto the central portion of the frame 33 is provided a slope angledetector 44.

FIG. 6 shows the control system for controlling the level and the heightof the concrete leveler portion 3 while leveling work is in progress.

Height control is performed by the laser light receiver 43 detecting theheight of the concrete leveler portion 3 from the laser light 1 receivedfrom the laser light emitter 60 which emits the laser light at a plannedheight, while level control is performed by detecting the level of theconcrete leveler portion 3 from the slope angle detector 44 andinputting the respective control signals to the control apparatus 45.

The control apparatus 45 performs comparison calculation between theinput values for the height and the slope angle and values that havebeen set beforehand, and the results of this calculation are used as thebasis for sending instructions for extension and contraction operationto the raising and lowering jacks 25, 25.

The following is a description of the operation of the embodimentdescribed above.

Concrete is poured to a floor or the like and while the poured concreteis still in the unhardened status, the raising and lowering jacks 25, 25are operated so that the screw 26 is lowered via the frame 33 of theconcrete leveler portion 3, and when the lower end of the screw blade 35is positioned at the position of the planned level surface, the levelingsurface 42 of the lower surface of the vibrating plate 27 is also set tothe same height position.

Then, the rotational drive motor 37 of the screw 26 starts and at thesame time as when a rotational force is applied to the screw 26, thevibrator 41 also starts and the concrete leveler portion 3 travels alongthe traveling beam 2 so that the screw 26 and the vibrating plate 27smooth the surface of the concrete to a flat surface. When the levelingof the concrete surface at that position is finished, the geared motors20, 20 start and the traveling beam 2 is moved by a predetermineddistance in the direction indicated by the white arrow, and stops there,and the concrete leveler portion 3 again travels and performs levelingin the same manner as has already been described above. At this time,any surplus concrete is discharged to the direction of the left in FIG.4 or the direction of the left in FIG. 5 (the leveling direction) by theaction of the screw blade 35. After this, the concrete surface has theleveling tracks caused by the screw 26 removed by the leveling surface42 because of the vibration in the up and down direction of thevibrating plate 27, and the surface is made a completely smooth surface.In addition, if the surplus concrete is discharged to the direction ofthe right in FIG. 5, then the screw 26 can be rotated in the directionof the left in FIG. 4.

While the operation described above is taking place, the level and theheight of the concrete leveler portion 3 is continuously detected by thelaser light receiver 43 and the slope angle detector 44 and thoseconverted signals are input to the control apparatus 45, comparisoncalculations are performed between those values and values that havebeen set beforehand, and when a difference of outside an allowable rangeoccurs between the two, the control apparatus 45 immediately sends anoperating instruction to the raising and lowering jacks 25, 25 so thatthe concrete leveler portion 3 is returned to a rated posture.

In the embodiment described above, the raising and lowering mechanismneed not be raising and lowering jacks, and can be a mechanical means ofa link mechanism or the like. Also, the drive portion of the travelingbeam is shown for the case when it used pulleys and belts but it canalso use a sprocket and chain, while the drive of the concrete levelerportion can use a roller and a guide rail but a rack can be formed tothe lower cross beam and a combination of this and a pinion used. Thedrive portion is not limited to these however.

Therefore, according to the present embodiment, a concrete levelingportion is provided to the traveling beam that travels on rails that arelaid on both sides of the poured concrete surface and so the travelingwheels do not travel directly upon the poured concrete surface and thusit is possible to level the concrete surface without disturbing it andwithout damaging the reinforcing rods beneath the poured concretesurface. In addition, it is possible to maintain a constant levelinglevel for the concrete leveling portion because of the rails that arelaid on both sides of the poured concrete surface.

Not only this, as in the case of the present embodiment, if a mechanismto detect the height and the level of the leveling portion and toperform automatic compensation is provided, then it is possible toobtain a level surface having good accuracy.

FIG. 7 and FIG. 8 show an embodiment that can perform compaction ofaggregate and leveling of the poured concrete surface and that can alsosmoothly finish the surface and the level of the concrete without therebeing any disturbances.

More specifically, there is a compactor plate 46 provided to thevibrating plate 27 on its rear side with respect to the direction oftravel. This compactor plate 46 is comprised of a flexible platematerial such as hardened rubber or the like, and as shown in FIG. 7,the base portion 46a is mounted by a bolt 47 or the like to the surfaceon the side of the rear of the vibrating plate 27 and the surface of thelower side of the distal end 46b is set to a height so that it does notbounce from the poured concrete leveling surface C even if the vibratingplate 27 moves up and down, and so that the lower surface on the side ofthe distal end 46b is in flexible contact with respect to the set levelfor the poured concrete leveling surface C.

Moreover, the means of applying flexibility to the compactor plate 46can be the flexibility inherent to the material of the mechanism asdescribed above, but as shown in FIG. 8, can also be due to thecompactor plate 46 being configured from a rigid material such as metalor synthetic resin, and having the base portion of the compactor plate46 mounted so as to be movable in the up and down direction by a hinge48 at the rear portion of the vibrating plate 27, and so that the lowersurface on the side of the distal end 46b of the compactor plate 46 isurged by a hinge 49 so that it is urged in the downwards direction andis always in contact with the poured concrete leveling surface C.

The vibrator means 41 can use an eccentric motor or the like.

By this, after there has been leveling by the screw, the surface of theconcrete is leveled to the leveling surface C by the up and downvibration of the vibrating plate 27, and aggregate that has risen to thesurface is made to sink. After this, the compactor plate 46, inconstantly pressing against the leveled concrete surface C, enables theconcrete surface that has disturbed by the motion of the vibrating plate27 to be finished to a smooth surface. Accordingly, the up and downmotion of the vibrator plate 27 sinks the aggregate at the same time asit levels the leveling tracks made by the screw, and the concretesurface is then compacted by the compactor plate so that it is possibleto level the poured concrete surface and then both sink the aggregateand level the surface, and to also level out any disturbances caused bythe vibrator plate, thus making the use of other finishing machinesunnecessary.

FIG. 9 through FIG. 11 show the case when a conventional levelingapparatus is used to perform the supply to a certain height (a heightsuitably higher than the leveling height), of concrete by manual or someother means to the area of the concrete that is to be leveled next,while leveling work is being performed in parallel, but conventionally,this leveling work is performed by workers and so there often occursurpluses and insufficiencies in the amount of concrete that is to bepoured to the next area where leveling work is to be performed and thereare often cases where this presents an obstacle to leveling to a uniformleveling height.

Also, while the leveling work is being performed, the screw causessurplus concrete collects at the end on the side of concrete dischargeand this concrete collapses into the leveled surface after the levelingwork has been performed, and thus causes the problem of lowering thework efficiency since re-leveling has to be performed.

With respect to these problems, the present embodiment is able toperform the suitable supply of concrete to the area that is to beleveled next, and also has no collecting of surplus concrete.

More specifically, as shown in FIG. 9, the main screw 52 for concretelevelling is axially supported between the support legs 50, 51 to theleft and the right of the frame that is supplied by the traveling unit24, and the auxiliary screw 53 is axially supported on the outside onone side of the support leg 51. In the figure, 37 is a main screw drivemotor and 37' is an auxiliary screw drive motor.

In this embodiment, the main screw 52 and the auxiliary screw 53 arecoaxial and the diameter of the auxiliary screw 53 is smaller than thediameter of the main screw 52, and there is a leveling height differenceH (of 5 to 30 mm) between the main screw 52 and the auxiliary screw 53.In this case, the diameter of the auxiliary screw 53 can be either thesame or different from that of the main screw 52 and the position ofaxial support to the support legs 51 can be different from the axialline of the main screw 52 so that the leveling height difference H canbe made. The following is a description of the operation of thisembodiment.

When the main screw 52 and the auxiliary screw 53 are driven and rotatedand the traveling unit 24 is moved in the direction indicated by thearrows in FIG. 10 and FIG. 11, the poured concrete surface is leveled bythe rotation of the main screw 52 and the surplus concrete Ca is sent tothe side of the auxiliary screw 53. This concrete that is sent from theend portion of the main screw 52 is continually sent further in thedirection of the outer end by the auxiliary screw 53. When this is done,the height of the leveled surface P' due to the auxiliary screw 53 ishigher by the amount H, than the height of the concrete leveling surfaceP due to the main screw 52. Accordingly, if the height of the levelingsurface P' due to the auxiliary screw 53 is used as the reference whenthere is the supply of concrete to the next object area P" while thisleveling work is being performed, then there will be no over- orunder-supply in the amount of concrete.

In this manner, when the traveling unit 24 has come to the end of thedirection indicated by the arrow A, it is lifted from the concreteleveling surface and as shown by the arrow A' in FIG. 10, is returned tothe start position while it is moved on the beam 7 to the side of thenext object area P" (to the left in FIG. 11) by an amount equivalent tothe length of the shaft of the main screw 52, and if the traveling unit24 is moved in the direction indicated by the arrow B in the same manneras described above, the concrete that is supplied to this area P" isleveled as described above, along with the leveling surface P' that hasalready been leveled by the auxiliary screw 53, and the surplus concreteis leveled in the next object area by the auxiliary screw 53.

In this manner and as shown in FIG. 10 at points (C) through (F), it ispossible to repeat return work so that there is leveling to a uniformheight for the entire surface.

Moreover, the auxiliary screw 53 is desirably provided so that itprotrudes to the outer side of the support leg 51 so that surplusconcrete does not collect on the inside of the support leg 51 but whenthere is only a relatively small amount of concrete to be poured, it ispossible to position the auxiliary screw 53 so that it is on the insideof the support leg 51. In addition, if the auxiliary screw 53 can beremoved, then it is possible to exchange it with an auxiliary screwhaving a different diameter and therefore possible to use the main screw52 to perform leveling up to wall surfaces. Also, it is possible for theauxiliary screw 53 to be provided so that it is either to the forwardside or the rearward side of the line of the axis of the main screw 52.

Therefore, according to this embodiment, the work of supplying theconcrete to the next area for leveling can be performed using the heightof the surface leveled by the auxiliary screw as a guide so that thereis no over- or under-supply in the amount of concrete supplied and sothat the leveling work is performed quickly and favorably. In addition,surplus concrete does not collect at the end portion of the main screwand so it is possible to raise the efficiency without there being anydisturbances in the leveled surface due to the collapse of surplusconcrete onto the surface that has already been leveled by the mainscrew.

FIG. 12 through FIG. 15 are of an embodiment that enables automaticcontrol of the level of the apparatus even if leveling work is beingperformed on a sloped surface, and has a laser light receiver 43 thatreceives laser light emitted from a laser light emitter (not shown inthe figure), at a planned leveling height, and to the central portion ofthe frame 33 is provided a slope angle detector 44.

The laser light receiver 43 is raised and lowered by an up and downmotion mechanism 54 as indicated in FIG. 12 and FIG. 13. The up and downmotion mechanism 54 has a rack 56 inserted vertically into the lowerportion of the laser light receiver 43 and is vertically supported atthe upper end of the support 55 standing upright in the frame 33, andthis rack 56 engages with a pinion 58 that is rotated by the motor 57,thereby enabling the laser light receiver 43 to be moved up and down bythe drive of the motor 57.

FIG. 14 shows the control system so that the height and the level of theconcrete leveling portion 3 can be made constant while leveling work isbeing performed.

Height control is performed by receiving the laser light that has beenemitted at the planned height from the laser light emitter 60 anddetecting the height of the concrete leveling portion 3, while levelcontrol is performed by using the slope angle detector 44 to detect thelevel of the concrete leveling portion 3 and to input the variousdetection signals to the leveling portion control apparatus 61.Furthermore, slope control is performed by using the travel amountdetector (encoder 59) to detect the amount of travel and input it to thelight receiver side control apparatus 62, while the verticaldisplacement of the laser light receiver 43 is determined by comparisoncalculation with a set value for the slope, and by operating the up anddown motion mechanism 54 to raise and lower the laser light receiver 43.

The control apparatus 61 performs a comparison calculation of the inputvalues for the slope angle and the height and the values that have beenset beforehand, and uses the results of this calculation as the basisfor giving extension and contraction operation instructions to theraising and lowering jacks 25, 25.

The following is a description of the operation of this embodiment.

At the time of commencement of the levelling by the concrete levelerportion 3 after the concrete of the floor surface or the like has beenpoured and while it is still in the unhardened status, the raising andlowering jacks 25, 25 that form the up and down adjustment mechanism andthe level adjustment mechanism operate so that the concrete levelerportion 3 is at a rated height and posture, and then while there is thisstatus, the height position of the laser light receiver 43 is adjustedby the up and down movement mechanism 54 so that laser light that has arequired height and which is emitted from the laser light receiver 43 isreceived by the laser light receiver 43. When this has been completed,the concrete leveler portion 3 is driven and at the same time, thetraveling members 24, 24 that has the concrete leveler portion 3,travels at a constant speed on the traveling beam 2 and the levelingwork starts ((A) of FIG. 15).

At the same time as when the drive force of the concrete leveler portion3 is applied to the screw 26 by starting the rotational drive motor 37of the screw 26, the vibrator 41 starts operation and the concreteleveler portion 3 travels along the traveling beam 2 so that the screw26 and the vibrating plate 27 smooth the concrete surface to a smoothsurface.

After this, the vibration in the up and down direction of the vibratingplate 27 smooths the concrete surface C so that leveling tracks due tothe screw 26 are removed and so there is leveling to a perfectly smoothsurface.

Along with the traveling of the concrete leveler portion 3 ((B) of FIG.15), the encoder 59 which is the travel amount detection portion detectsthe amount of travel (distance of displacement) of the concrete levelerportion 3 and, at the same time, the value for the travel amount of theconcrete leveler portion 3 and which has been obtained from the lightreceiver control apparatus 62, and the value that has been setbeforehand for the slope are used as the basis for calculating theamount of up and down movement of the laser light receiver 43, and thelaser light receiver 43 is then moved up and down on the basis of thevalue calculated. When the laser light receiver 43 moves up and down,the point at which the laser light emitted at a required height isreceived by the laser light receiver 43, is displaced ((C) of FIG. 15)and the control apparatus 61 immediately performs a comparisoncalculation between the value detected by the laser light receiver 43and the value that has been set beforehand and these calculation resultsare used as the basis for operating the raising and lowering jacks 25,25 of the up and down movement mechanism and positioning the concreteleveler portion 3 so that the laser light receiver 43 is always at aposition of constant height ((D) of FIG. 15). The posture of theconcrete leveler portion 3 is adjusted by a comparison calculation beingmade between the value for the slope angle of the concrete levelerportion 3 and which has been detected by the slope angle detector 44,and a value that has been set beforehand, and the results of thatcalculation being used as the basis for operating the raising andlowering jacks 25, 25 which are the level adjustment mechanism.

According to this embodiment, it is possible to perform leveling work toa slope value and for concrete leveling on sloped surfaces to beperformed automatically and accurately.

FIG. 16 through FIG. 18 show an embodiment that successively sends railsso as to make the concrete leveling apparatus traveling and move.

In the embodiments described above, the rails 5, 5 along which thetraveling beam 2 travel were laid beforehand for along the entire lengthon both sides of the poured concrete surface and so it was not possibleto avoid unleveled portions for these rail portions 5, 5 and thevicinity of them. Because of this, it was not possible to completelyeliminate later manual leveling work for these rail portions.

Not only this, leaving the rails in place creates obstacles for laterfinishing work and so unleveled portions would remain if the rails weresimply left in place. Therefore, it was necessary for the rails to bedismantled and removed for those portions where the leveling work hadbeen completed, and for those tracks to be leveled by manual laborafterwards. Because of this rail removing work that has no directrelationship with the leveling work, it was necessary to have workersconstantly present, and this caused the problem of an insufficient laborand energy saving.

In order to eliminate this problem, the work of removing the rails bymanual labor is eliminated and the energy saving effect of mechanicalwork is increased further.

A traveling beam 10 has the same configuration as in the embodimentdescribed above, and to the lower portion of both ends of its beam 7 arevertically provided two legs 70, 70 on each side, and the lower ends ofthese legs 70, 70 are provided with pads 70a, 70a that are in stablecontact with the poured concrete surface C.

To the end portion on both sides of the traveling beam 10 are axiallymounted upper portion rollers 71, 71 as shown in FIG. 16, and to thelegs 70, 70 at the lower portion are axially supported lower portionrollers 72, 72. As shown in the enlarged sectional view FIG. 17, theselower portion rollers 72, 72 are formed with a shaft 72a of the lowerportion rollers 72, 72 inserted into the long hole that is openedlengthways in the up and down direction in the side walls 73, 73 on theleft and right sides of the leg 70, thereby making these lower portionrollers 72, 72 movable in the up and down direction. Springs 77, 77 thathave a tension action between the blocks 76, 76 fixed to the top of theleg 70 and the blocks 75, 75 of the end portion of this shaft 72a areplaced and the lower portion rollers 72, 72 is always urged in theupwards direction, and the rail 78 is held between these upper and lowerrollers 71, 72.

The rail 78 consists of an upper pipe 79 and two lower pipes 80, 80 thatare fixed by support plates 81, 81 in the shape of an isosceles trianglewhen seen from the end surface, and the upper pipe 79 engages with thegroove in the direction of the peripheral surface of the upper roller71, and the lower pipes 80, 80 are housed in between the flanges 72b ,72b of the lower roller 72.

To the front and rear end portions of this rail 78 are attached jacks82, 82 in the vertical direction, and to the lower end of the rams 83,83 of these jacks 82, 82 are provided pads 83a, 83a that are in stablecontact with the ground surface. These jacks 82, 82 are extended andcontracted by the rams 83, 83 that are either electrically orhydraulically driven.

The upper roller 71 has its drive mechanism consisting of a sprocket 84that is fixed to the end portion of its shaft 71a and a drive sprocket86 for the motor 85 mounted to the traveling beam 10 and has a chain 87placed so that the upper roller 71 rotates by the drive of the motor 85.Moreover, this transmission mechanism can be a system of gears insteadof the chain 87. In addition, the upper and lower rollers 71, 72 thatare the sending means can be pinions instead of the roller that is shownin the figure, and the rack on the side of the rail 78 can be formed soas to function as the sending mechanism and the holding mechanism forthe rail 78. Other sending mechanisms can be formed by cylinders andchains and the like.

The concrete leveler portion 3 is provided with the screw 26 shown inFIG. 9, and is also provided with the vibrating plate 27.

In FIG. 16, those portions of the configuration that correspond toportions of FIG. 5 are indicated with corresponding numerals, and thecorresponding descriptions of them are omitted.

The following is a description of the embodiment described above, withreference to FIG. 18 (A) through (H).

The jacks 82, 82 of the rail 78 contract and bring the legs 70, 70 ofthe traveling beam 10 into contact with the ground.

When this occurs, at the time of the start of leveling, the raising andlowering jacks 25, 25 that are the up and down adjustment mechanism andthe level adjustment mechanism operate so that the concrete levelerportion 3 is adjusted to the rated position and the rated posture.

When this adjustment is completed, the concrete leveler portion 3 isdriven and travels from one end of the traveling beam 10 to the otherend and performs the work for leveling the poured concrete surface C((A) of FIG. 18).

When the concrete leveler portion 3 has come to the other end, the jacks82, 82 of the rail 78 are extended and the pads 70a , 70a rise ((B) ofFIG. 18) and the motor 85 of the traveling beam 10 is driven so as todrive the upper roller 71 and the rotation of this upper roller 71 movesthe traveling beam 10 by a single pitch portion ((C) of FIG. 18).

Then, the jacks 82, 82 of the rail 78 are again brought into contactwith the ground ((D) of FIG. 18) and the traveling members 24, 24 traveland the leveling of the poured concrete surface C is again performed.

As shown in (E) to (F) of FIG. 18, when the traveling beam 10 hasreached the end of the rail 78, the jacks 82, 82 of the rail 78 arecontracted, then if the motor 85 is driven as soon as the pads 70a , 70aare brought into contact with the ground ((G) of FIG. 18), the upperpipe 79 that is pressed against the upper roller 71 by the springs 77,77 is sent by the force of that friction and the rail 78 is sent in theforward direction as shown in (H) of FIG. 18.

This status is the same as the status shown in FIG. 18 (A) for when theleveling work commenced, and after this, the operation shown in FIG. 18(B) through (H) is again repeated and the work of leveling the pouredconcrete surface C continues.

The action of the concrete leveler portion 3 is such that the drivemotors 54, 55 of the screws 52, 53 are started so that at the same timeas when the rotation force is applied to the screw, the vibrator 41 isalso started and the concrete leveler portion 3 is made to travel alongthe traveling beam 10 so that the screws 52, 53 and the vibrating plate27 smooth the concrete surface to a flat status.

When this occurs, surplus concrete is discharged in the direction of theleft in FIG. 16 (the direction of leveling) by the action of the screwblade. After this, leveling tracks caused by the screw in the levelsurface are removed by the up and down vibration of the vibrator plate34, and the concrete surface is made completely flat and smooth.

The legs 70, 70 of the traveling beam 10 can be jacked and replaced bythe jacks 82, 82 of the rail 78, which do not extend and contract.

According to this embodiment, the work for the removal of the rails isnot as it was conventionally, and it is possible for the energy savingeffect due to mechanization to be exhibited to its fullest, and also forthe work of laying the rails prior to the day of execution of the workto also become unnecessary and therefore represent a further raising ofthe work efficiency. Furthermore, when the length of execution ofconcrete pouring work is 100 m, this conventionally involved about fifty4 m rails but only two rails are used with this embodiment and so thismeans a large reduction in the accompanying transportation costs.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY

As has been described above, the concrete leveling apparatus accordingto the present invention enables the work of leveling a poured concretesurface to be performed for the floors of high-rise buildings, rooftops,the floors of gymnasium facilities, outdoors and other large areas.

We claim:
 1. A concrete leveling apparatus, comprising rails positionedon opposite sides of a poured concrete surface, a traveling beam thatspans said rails and is adapted for travel in a direction of travelalong said rails, a traveling unit that is movably mounted on saidtraveling beam and is adapted for travel along said traveling beam in adirection of travel perpendicular to the direction of travel of saidtraveling beam, and a concrete leveler portion supported by saidtraveling unit, an adjustment mechanism for adjusting and leveling saidconcrete leveler portion, said concrete leveler portion including aslope angle detector and a laser light receiver that receives laserlight emitted at a planned height, and a control apparatus that comparesa value of a slope angle and height of said concrete leveler portiondetected by said laser light receiver and slope angle detector withpredetermined values and said control apparatus including means forcontrolling said adjustment mechanism based on the comparison such thatsaid adjustment mechanism adjusts said concrete leveler portion withrespect to the poured concrete surface.
 2. The concrete levelingapparatus of claim 1, wherein said concrete leveler portion is providedwith a travel amount detector that detects a distance of relative motionwith respect to said traveling beam, and displacement means for movingsaid laser light receiver up and down with respect to said concreteleveler portion, and a light receiver control apparatus that includesmeans for using a displacement amount of said concrete leveler portionthat has been detected by said travel amount detector and a value of apredetermined angle as the basis for calculating an up or downdisplacement amount of said laser light receiver, and which alsoincludes means for using said calculated value as a basis for moving,with said displacement means, said laser light receiver the calculatedup or down displacement amount, and said light receiver controlapparatus also including means for performing a comparison calculationwith values for a slope angle and height of said concrete levelerportion detected by said laser light receiver and slope angle detectorand which uses the results of said comparison calculation as the basisfor moving said adjustment mechanism whereby said laser light receiveris maintained at a constant height.
 3. The concrete leveling apparatusof claim 1, wherein said concrete leveling apparatus is provided withtraveling beam legs vertical to a lower portion of both ends of saidtraveling beam, and said rails being supported by said traveling beam soas to be freely shiftable with respect to said traveling beam when saidtraveling beam is in a first position, said concrete levelling apparatusfurther comprising rail legs provided at forward and rearward endportions of said rails, and rails sending means for shifting said railswith respect to said traveling beam, said traveling beam legs and raillegs being formed so as to be freely extendable and contractible suchthat, when said rail legs are extended into contact with the ground,said traveling beam is adapted for movement along said rails and suchthat, when said legs of said traveling beam are extended into contactwith the ground, said traveling beam is in the first position whereinthe rails are freely shiftable with respect to said traveling beam bysaid sending means.
 4. The concrete leveling apparatus of claim 1,wherein said concrete leveler portion has a vibrator plate and means forvibrating said plate.
 5. The concrete leveling apparatus of claim 1,further comprising a compactor plate having flexibility in an up anddown direction and supported by said vibrator plate such that saidvibrator plate is forward of said compactor plate with respect to thedirection of travel of said traveling unit.
 6. The concrete levelingapparatus of claim 5, further comprising a screw which is of an augerdesign and which rotates along an axes extending transverse to thedirection of travel of said traveling unit, and said screw beingsupported by said traveling unit in a position forward of said vibratorplate with respect to the direction of travel of said traveling unit. 7.The concrete leveling apparatus of claim 6, wherein said screw includesa main screw section having an exterior concrete contacting edge and anauxiliary screw section having an exterior concrete contacting edge, andthe exterior concrete contacting edge of said auxiliary screw beingpositioned further from an underlying plane than the concrete contactingedge of said main screw section, and said auxiliary screw sectionextending outwardly off an end of said main screw section.